I got a call from a reporter for the Globe and Mail yesterday, Canada's national paper, to comment on the rise of urban agriculture. The story, which appeared today, is on Grow Calgary, an inspiring organization that has created one of the most impressive urban farms in North America on a shoestring budget. I chatted with the reporter for quite a while about the convergence of movements and ideas that have given rise to this current wave of UA in North America. The rise of the urban sustainability paradigm post-Brundtland, post-Rio. The sustainable ag movement growing out of the environmental movement and 60s counterculture back-to-the-landers, and and a foodie culture that has evolved in its wake. The food justice movement growing out of the convergence of the EJ movement and the anti-hunger movement that became increasingly necessary once Reagan came in. Michael Pollan and a growing popular awareness about how f'd up the agri-food system is.

I don't fault him for this, as it's the nature of the game, but the journalist boiled our conversation to the following: "Nathan McClintock, a professor at the school of urban studies at Portland State University, sees a link between the rise of urban farming and a diminishing social safety net. “With the stripping away of the welfare state, there’s a growing dependence on food banks and volunteerism; people can rely less on government assistance,” he said. “People are also moving back to cities and they want a back-to-the-land experience.”He nailed the importance of my comment regarding the social safety net, the rise of voluntarism, etc., what we critical geographers like to refer to as the rise of the "shadow state" in the neoliberal era. But the second quote needs a bit more context and clarification. The important angle is the move back to the city, the return of investment to the urban core, the attraction to urban life. People don't want to give up the city. But for those interested in food and agriculture -- and there are a lot of us now! -- urban agriculture offers a "best of both worlds" scenario, where you can re-connect with where your food comes, then drink an espresso at your favorite coffee shop, go see a band play, take public transit or ride your bike to work, etc etc. As in the 70s and 80s when a lot of the back-to-the-land energy was channeled into community gardens on vacant lots inner cities, today's UA movement sees this convergence of a commitment to the city and a desire for everything the city has to offer, with a desire to reconnect with our food and the soil. De-alienation from nature and the fruits of our labor, as I've argued elsewhere. This, of course, comes with its own suite of problems, which is what I earn my keep thinking and writing and teaching about... but you can dig into my latest research for that. ﻿

Anyway, as I tweeted the other day, here's to Grow Calgary for their great work! Now let's tackle the reason why there are so damn many food banks!

While the purpose of the report was to discuss the persistence of concentrated poverty, a somewhat revisionist or denialist discussion of gentrification creeped into characterization's of the report's results in some press. The most egregious example was Slate citing the research to say that "gentrification is a myth"... um, say what?! Ever been to N. Williams in Portland, Mr. Buntin?

So Dillon then had to go set things straight. Check out an interview with him on the radio show Let Your Voice Be Heard on WHCR 90.3 fm in Harlem to dispel this idea that gentrification is a myth. Congrats to Dillon on all his great work!